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08/26/2005: Back from vacation
I'm back from my vacation to Mattituck, NY, and Manchester, NH. Here are a few vacation observations.
I've been in a lot of airports, and hands down, Boston is the worst. Having to go out on the street and take the bus to get from one terminal to the other sucks. Detroit is by far the best: the seats in the terminal are comfortable, and the bathrooms are excellent, with hand sensors on the sink that are responsive, and water of just the right temperature. The train to get you from one end of the Northwest terminal to the other is fast, and runs frequently.
I will never again book a trip that involves changing airlines in the middle. It's a recipe for major SNAFUs.
And without laying the blame on one side or the other, it appears to me that the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association made a major mistake in choosing to strike Northwest. Northwest seemed to be running without problems on Thursday. I think the AMFA is going to lose this one.
There was an odd incident in the Detroit airport that I observed during my layover, possibly related to the strike. There were three clean-cut men wearing golf shirts with an "AISC" logo sitting nearby at gate 6. A Northwest agent approached them, and asked them to go sit at another gate, since they were "upsetting" one of the agents working at a nearby gate. One of the men said something like "We're not wanted anywhere here."
Who were these men? Scab mechanics? Googling "AISC" doesn't turn up anything useful.
Enough about airlines, on to fun vacation activities.
I saw the New Hampshire Fisher Cats (AA afiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays) beat the Norwich Navigators (AA afiliate of the San Francisco Giants) at the new Fisher Cats Ballpark. (It's nice to see a new ballpark not named after a corporate sponsor.) It's a great little park, and it was a very enjoyable game, even if they did play We Will Rock You way too many times. If you're ever in Manchester during baseball season, you should make it a point to go to a game.
At Neo Tokyo comics and anime store, I met the most unfortunately named child I have ever met in real life. (As opposed to this poor child, whom I only know of online.) The woman working there, apparently the owner of the store, had actually named her child -- and I'm not making this up -- "Anakin."
One can only hope the child doesn't follow in the path of his fictional namesake.
Brock on 08.26.05 @ 08:25 PM CST
